LUK is only used for the Mage as a requirement to wear most Mage-specific equipment, with the usual requirement of LUK being 3 points above the equipment's level (elemental staffs). When you level, put all points into INT. If you are not sure, press Auto Assign as this will take advantage of equipment stats as well. Even if you need LUK yo wear elemental staffs, at level 140, Hyper Luck is available and increases 50 LUK.

INT is the Mage's main damage stat, as it adds to the character's Magic Attack. All points not spent on LUK should be put in INT, as the other stats do not help Magicians AT ALL! Some people cap their LUK at 4 or so and put all AP on INT after that.

LUKless mages keep their base LUK at 4 and add all their AP to INT. At level 197 a LUKless mage will be unable to add more int past 999 base INT. At that point they add their points to LUK. with a ending stat distribution of 999 INT and 23 LUK at level 200.

If carefully built, a LUKless Mage has far more potential than a LUK mage, and costs less (unlike most other statless classes). The magic attack in a weapon is divided several times, and then added to determine your minimum and maximum damage with a given spell, rather than multiplied like the weapon attack in most other weapons. This renders LUK obsolete. Their max MP is also vastly greater at higher levels because INT is what determines how much MP a character gains at level up. Magic attack from weapons does not. But be warned: Elemental staffs require LUK to wear.

Maker LUKless have the benefit of both being able to wear mage equipment and be considered LUKless when they reach the highest levels of MapleStory.
They remain with the no LUK build until level 50, which is the lowest level that maker equips can reach, and then adding enough base LUK up to a maximum of 19 to wear level 50 equips. Using Advanced wisdom crystals to make the level 50 gloves and shoes they make equipment that offsets the amount of LUK they had to put into their base stat to wear. The shoes on average will be 8 INT and the gloves 8 INT also, offsetting the 15 AP Maker mages have to put into LUK.
This build is not recommended unless one has access to Zakum helms and other high level and expensive items.

Each hit with Magic Claw (40 M.ATK) does less damage than one Energy Bolt (55 M.ATK) hit, however Magic Claw hits twice, which does significantly more damage. Many people think that Magic Claw uses more MP per M.ATK than Energy Bolt. This is a lie. At lvl 20 Magic Claw, 80 total M.ATK using 20 MP equals 4 M.ATK per MP, but Energy Bolt does 55 M.ATK with 14 MP, equaling around 3.9 M.ATK per MP. On the other hand, Energy Bolt will allow you to knock back some monsters with high defense that Magic Claw will not, however by the time the difference is noticeable, you will already have new attacks (as a Wizard or Cleric). Still, due to its ability to knock back higher leveled monsters, some Lukless mages tend to max this instead since they train at high level monsters due to the pure INT advantage.

Myth: Magic Armor is better than Magic Guard

At lower levels, when MP is fairly low, Magic Guard used to be very expensive. Because of the release of New Leaf City and its potions, MP is not nearly as expensive to recover as it once was. Still, lower-level enemies don't usually do enough damage to make Magic Guard essential for survival. However, at higher level, when enemies do damage in the thousands, Magicians do not have enough HP to survive even one hit from the enemies. This means that Magic Guard is required at higher levels. At higher levels, MP is also not as big a problem due to very quick MP recovery, NLC pots, and the Wizard/Cleric MP Eater skill.

Holy Arrow is replaced by 3rd job Shining Ray so it does not need to be maxed, and those 16 SP are better used elsewhere. Heal should be maxed early to enjoy the benefits of being a Cleric (which is to support others by healing).

You can decide to max either Cold Beam (commonly referred as ice) first or Thunder Bolt (commonly referred as lit or lightning) first. Ice first is recommended to most, although if you have money to burn and just want to train fast, by all means go for lit first. With both choices in mind, your first attack will be labeled as your Primary Attack, and the other as Secondary Attack

Ice Hybrid build

1 Teleport

30 Cold Beam (MAX)

5 MP eater

30 Thunder Bolt (MAX)

15 MP Eater (MAX)

20 Meditation (MAX)

19 Teleport (MAX)

MP Thief

1 Teleport

25 Thunder Bolt

20 MP Eater (MAX)

5 Thunder Bolt (MAX)

30 Cold Beam (MAX)

20 Meditation (MAX)

19 Teleport (MAX)

Fast and Cheap Training Build

1 MP Eater

1 Teleport

1 Cold Beam

15 Thunder Bolt

19 MP Eater

19 Teleport

20 Meditation

15 Thunder Bolt

20 Slow

9 Extra

The Reason you Max Meditation before Thunder bolt is because you will be traing in Helois Tower on the Hamsters. This is so that you take no damage, exluding when you go and get your loot. Because of this you do not need to have as much damage, rather increase damage by using Meditation as Thunder bolt doubles MP cost at level 16. You add 1 in MP eater and Cold beam because when traing in the Mushking empire this will allow you to constantly freeze the yetis and MP eater will always fully restore your mp when activated. Teleport and MP eater are Maxed before Thunder Bolt because the goal of this build is to train fast and get rich, not train fast and get poor.

Both Attacks First

1 Teleport (1)

1 MP Eater (1)

30 Primary Attack (MAX)

2 MP Eater (3)

30 Secondary Attack (MAX)

20 Meditation (MAX)

19 Teleport (MAX)

17 MP Eater (MAX)

1 Anything (including 1st Job skills) (1)

Early Meditation

1 Teleport (1)

1 MP Eater (1)

30 Primary Attack (MAX)

2 MP Eater (3)

20 Meditation (MAX)

30 Secondary Attack (MAX)

19 Teleport (MAX)

17 MP Eater (MAX)

1 Anything (including 1st Job skills) (1)

Early Meditation and Teleport

1 Teleport (1)

1 MP Eater (1)

30 Primary Attack (MAX)

20 Meditation (MAX)

19 Teleport (MAX)

30 Secondary Attack (MAX)

17 MP Eater (MAX)

1 Anything (including 1st Job skills) (1)

There are some people who feel they don't need teleport to be efficient. For those who are wondering, there are other builds that can work better in different situations.
Teleport is almost essential to a lightning wizard. When training at say, Lorangs (or basically any map with crowded mobs - exactly the type of maps lightning wizards should train in), they are doing a lot of damage to you, and teleport allows you get in a good spot without getting hit on the way so you can start zapping away.

My personal build LV (132 arch mage)

1 Teleport

30 Thunder Bolt

20 Mp Eater

19 Teleport

30 Cold Beam

20 Meditation

This build is for pure leveling and usually for funded mages (also this is the most sensible build and used by many early Arch Mages highly recommended). The reason behind meditation being last is that in nlc you can purchase Wizard Elixir (+20 magic attack for 8 minutes) there by eliminating the need for meditation in favor of rapid leveling. Most of your low lv training would be teddies for 25-35 then you can try retz the little hamsters to the west, there’s a screw you can stand one floor down on and spam thunder bolt for hours and never fear retaliation for very fast xp. If at any point retz aren’t doing it for you your welcome to try clangs at there hidden street but in personal experience it’s too much teleporting around and getting hit with retz you may teleport up or down every few minutes and you should never be hit staying only on screws usually good until lv 51 you can also try straw test dummies 3200 hp. Newer mpg mages should note that Magicians using this build can be the best leaders for offensive fast runs. With teleport they can get to any room faster than any other class and can deliver consistent fast damage to the mob within. It’s all about positioning as a leader you'll be in room 7 Only boxes facing the left can contain tauros. Now when it opens there’s three possibilities: top - stand underneath them and thunder bolt away middle - this one is a little tricky but the fastest one jump up on the platform underneath them you’ll be struck first then while flashing jump again and begin the thunder spam as for the bottom - you can either stand next to them on the left, hide to the right but if your good you can stand on the window and thunder bolt away. Always teleport - never walk. Get used to teleporting all over the place and it will save you hours in the long run.

No/Low Cold Beam Build

Many find Cold Beam to be useless after 2nd job and choose to not invest points in it, especially since Thunderbolt is faster exp anyways, and claw is decent single target damage. Plus, Comp replaces cold beam in 3rd job as a single target attack. Also, Slow can be useful at bosses and other areas, much more than Cold Beam will be later on.

Post Ascension build, Shining Ray hits 6, and has good range. (Now you know why you didn't need Holy Arrow in second job) After 3 SP on Dispel, max Holy Symbol for more EXP. Shining Ray does not need to be maxed because it's replaced by 4th job Angel Ray.

Regular Build

Level 60: +1 Shining Ray (1), +1 Teleport Mastery (1), +2 Dispel (2)

Level 61: +1 Dispel (3), +2 Holy Symbol (2)

Level 62: +3 Holy Symbol (5)

Level 63: +3 Holy Symbol (8)

Level 64: +3 Holy Symbol (11)

Level 65: +3 Holy Symbol (14)

Level 66: +3 Holy Symbol (17)

Level 67: +3 Holy Symbol (20)

Level 68: +1 Mystic Door (1), +2 Holy Focus (2)

Level 69: +3 Holy Focus (5)

Level 70: +3 Holy Focus (8)

Level 71: +2 Holy Focus (10), +1 Shining Ray (2)

Level 72: +3 Shining Ray (5)

Level 73: +3 Shining Ray (8)

Level 74: +3 Shining Ray (11)

Level 75: +3 Shining Ray (14)

Level 76: +3 Dispel (6)

Level 77: +3 Dispel (9)

Level 78: +1 Dispel (10), +2 Holy Magic Shell (2)

Level 79: +3 Holy Magic Shell (5)

Level 80: +3 Holy Magic Shell (8)

Level 81: +3 Holy Magic Shell (11)

Level 82: +3 Holy Magic Shell (14)

Level 83: +3 Holy Magic Shell (17)

Level 84: +3 Holy Magic Shell (20)

Level 85: +3 Teleport Mastery (4)

Level 86: +3 Teleport Mastery (7)

Level 87: +3 Teleport Mastery (10)

Level 88: +3 Magic Booster (3)

Level 89: +3 Magic Booster (6)

Level 90: +3 Magic Booster (9)

Level 91: +1 Magic Booster (10), +2 Arcane Overdrive (2)

Level 92: +3 Arcane Overdrive (5)

Level 93: +3 Arcane Overdrive (8)

Level 94: +2 Arcane Overdrive (10), +1 Doom (1)

Level 95: +3 Doom (4)

Level 96: +3 Doom (7)

Level 97: +3 Doom (10)

Level 98: +3 Mystic Door (4)

Level 99: +3 Mystic Door (7)

Level 100: +3 Mystic Door (10)

End Result

Holy Symbol: Level 20

Holy Focus: Level 10

Shining Ray: Level 14 (or 20)

Dispel: Level 10

Holy Magic Shell: Level 20

Teleport Mastery: Level 10

Magic Booster: Level 10

Doom: Level 10 (or 4)

Mystic Door: Level 10

Arcane Overdrive: Level 10

Shining Ray and Heal will be your training skills. Shining Ray does not need to be maxed because it's replaced by 4th job Angel Ray, but AR requires a mastery book that's dropped by Zakum. Heal training can allow you to train without the use of Magic Guard on some maps which will maximize MP Eater and minimize pot burn. 1 SP on Door early for parties. Holy Magic Shell will heal and protect you and your party up to 20 seconds. Doom can turn mobs into snails for a little while. It's a non essential, but fun skill. Alternatively, you could leave it at 3 and max Shining Ray.

There are no mobs weak to thunder between Clangs and Vikings, so Thunder Spear may not be suitable as your first attack skill. Ice Strike freezes Vikings solid.

Consider whether you should put points into Partial Resistance or not, after all, there aren't many monsters with such elemental attacks. In any case, Seal is probably better for everything but Zakum, while Partial Resistance is useful if you do Zakum all day (since it can't be sealed). Though, it's not like you're going to try to train on Grims or anything.

Note: There is a debate between which is better, Seal or Partial resistance. Seal works against non-boss monsters, though they'll be frozen, and Partial resistance is extremely helpful against bosses such as Papulatus, Zakum, and Horned Tail since they all use Ice and Lightning Based attacks. 10 points into Seal and 10 points into Partial resistance is the key to having a rounded character. If you tend to fight bosses most of the time, then Partial resistance should instead be maxed (the difference between being balanced and maxing the skill is 20% damage reduction).

Boss and Non-Boss Build(Possibly Most effective)

30 Ice Strike(MAX)

30 Element Composition or Thunder Spear(MAX)

30 Element Amplification(MAX)

30 Thunder Spear or Element Composition(MAX)

20 Spell Booster(MAX)

10 Seal

1 Partial Resistance

Thunder Spear

30 Thunder Spear or Element Composition (MAX)

11 Spell Booster (11)

30 Element Amplification (MAX)

30 Ice Strike (MAX)

30 Element Composition or Thunder Spear (MAX)

20 Seal (MAX)*(See Note Below)

2 Partial Resistance (2)

Ice Strike

30 Ice Strike (MAX)

11 Spell Booster (11)

30 Element Amplification (MAX)

30 Thunder Spear (MAX)

30 Composition (MAX)

20 Partial Resistance (MAX)

Element Composition

1 Composition or Thunder Spear (1)

3 Elemental Amplification (3)

29 Composition or Thunder Spear (MAX)

1 Elemental Amplification (4)

11 Magic Booster (11)

30 Thunder Spear or Ice Strike (MAX)

26 Elemental Amplification or Thunder Spear (MAX)

1 Partial Resistance (1)

1 Seal (1)

19 Partial Resistance or Seal (MAX)

Power Up First

5 Elemental Amplification (5)

11 Magic Booster (11)

30 Thunder Spear (MAX)

30 Ice Strike (MAX)

9 Magic Booster (MAX)

20 Seal (MAX)*(See note below)

25 Elemental Amplification (MAX)

20 Partial Resistance (MAX)

1 Magic Armor (2)

Ice Mobber

30 Ice Strike (MAX)

5 Elemental Amplification (5)

11 Magic Booster (11)

25 Elemental Amplification (MAX)

20 Seal (MAX)

30 Element Composition (MAX)

9 Magic Booster (MAX)

20 Partial Resistance (MAX)

1 Thunder Spear or Slow

Ice Mobber build completely removes Thunder Spear because it is replaced by Chain Lighting in 4th job. Additionally Seal and Partial Resistance have very unique and helpful uses. Seal is useful for mobbing monsters that are either un-freezable (not likely you would train on them) and more importantly monsters that have high magic attack (example Skelegons and Newties). Seal is able to be casted from a ladder and has longer range/time than freeze. Partial resistance is for simple boss runs. You could have 11 TS and 11 Booster but trust me when you are an Arch Mage its really a matter of how often do you want to stop attacking to rebuff for a skill that you will not use.

Explosion and Fire Demon hit 6, their fast, and have good range. (Now you know why you didn't get Blazing Arrow in second job) 1 SP on Poison Mist early just because it's cool, but it's really not very useful till you get more points on it later. Don't raise Element Amplification too early, or it will cost you too much MP. You could swap Amp with Arcane Overdrive if you want.

Explosion will be your fastest training skill. Spell Booster, Arcane Overdrive, and Elemental Amplification are next to support Explosion. Poison Mist comes next to take advantage of the DoT, than Burning Magic to increase it. Finish Fire Demon and Teleport Mastery for more damage. Finish Spell Booster for more time. Max Elemental Decrease for those mobs that are strong to both Fire and Poison. Seal cast fast and is useful with only one point, so it does not need to be maxed early, or at all.

Fourth Job Skills aren't readily available. You will need to get a skill book or complete some sort of quest to earn the Skill, except the skill book Maple Hero, which is given free of charge by your 4th job instructor. Moreover, you can only add 10 skill points into any particular skill. To raise it further, you need to get additional mastery books. Each Skill has it's own particular book. There are 2 kinds of Mastery Books.

Level 20 Mastery Book: This book requires a minimum of level 5 in that particular skill to use. 70% success rate.

Level 30 Mastery Book: This book requires a minimum of level 15 in that particular skill to use. 50% success rate.

When you reach 100, go to Leafre, Forest of the Priest (Hidden Portal at the top of Valley of the Antelope) and talk to Gritto the 4th Job Instructor. Bring back a Heroic Star and Heroic Pentagon, obtained by killing Manon & Griffey.

Most people say Griffey is more difficult, so do that last. The strategy is the same for both. Don't use Teleport Mastery or Bless/HS, as they will get debuffed anyway and take too long to put back. Do use Magic Guard, and if/when you have time, a macro with Invincible/Magic Armor/Magic Booster. Of course MG is the priority. You don't really need the other, but it saves MP. Put Holy Magic Shell on a Quick Slot so you can see when the cooldown is finished and you can use it again. Putting potions on Quick Slot is also helpful so you can see how many you have left. Minimize last minute changes to your keyboard layout so you don't get confused. A split second delay in thinking could mean you die. You can open the keyboard layout and move the keys you need to the Quick Slot area if needed so you don't need to change what keys you are used to using just to be able to see them.

Go in and immediately use Holy Magic Shell and start attacking. When it runs out, teleport away and hide. Don't worry about attacking the Kents, just hide from Manon/Griffey by teleporting to the left and right side of the map away from them and be ready with the MG and Power Elixer when you teleport past as they will 1/1 and/or debuff you. Don't attack again till you are able to use Holy Magic Shell again first. This will take lots of patience, but it will work. Good Luck.

A level by level build is not realistic as there is no way to predict when you will find, or be able to buy, the required mastery books, but here are some tips to get you started. The Maple Warrior skill book will be given when you finish the job advancement. Angel Ray requires the Angel Ray skill book which drops from Zakum. Most people will agree Angel Ray is the most important skill to max first, but since you probably won't have the book... Post Ascension build, there are several 1 pointers you should get first such as Bahamut because it adds Elemental Resistance. Next max Buff Mastery for the added attack and longer buffs.

Party Build

Level 120: +1 Advanced Blessing (1), +1 Big Bang (1), +1 Genesis (1)

Level 121: +1 Resurrection (1), +1 Arcane Aim (1), +1 Bahamut (1)

Level 122: +2 Maple Warrior (2), +1 Buff Mastery (1)

Level 123: +3 Maple Warrior (5)

Level 124: +2 Maple Warrior (7), +1 Buff Mastery (2)

Level 125: +3 Buff Mastery (5)

Level 126: +3 Buff Mastery (8)

Level 127: +2 Buff Mastery (10), +1 Advanced Blessing (2)

Level 128: +3 Advanced Blessing (5)

Level 129: +3 Advanced Blessing (8)

Solo Build

Level 120: +1 Advanced Blessing (1), +1 Big Bang (1), +1 Genesis (1)

Level 121: +1 Resurrection (1), +1 Arcane Aim (1), +1 Bahamut (1)

Level 122: +3 Buff Mastery (3)

Level 123: +3 Buff Mastery (6)

Level 124: +3 Buff Mastery (9)

Level 125: +1 Buff Mastery (10), +2 Angel Ray (2)

Level 126: +3 Angel Ray (5)

Level 127: +3 Angel Ray (8)

If you don't have Angel Ray yet, Buff Mastery is a good choice as it is only 10 SP to max and will improve your other attacks and buffs. Max Angel Ray or Advanced Blessing next depending on if you are able to get the skill book.

End Result (This shows max all, but you could leave points off Bahamut or Big Bang)

Due to element amplification, it would be more meso efficient to raise Blizzard straight from level 15 to level 30

Another build worth considering is

1 Blizzard

9 Maple warrior

Max Chain Lightning

5 Ice Demon

5 Ifrit

Max Infinity

Max Blizzard

No matter the build it never hurts to put 1 point into Infinity after Blizzard is obtained. The reason is simply because it will give you 10 seconds of free Blizzard spamming once every 10 minutes. It is a very small savings on potion cost but still adds up over the course of leveling. Like all 4th job build suggestions it is purely personal preference.

When you reach 120, go to Leafre, Forest of the Priest (Hidden Portal at Valley of the Antelope) and talk to Gritto the 4th Job Instructor. Bring back a Heroic Star and Heroic Pentagon, obtained by killing Manon & Griffey.

Post Ascension, this quest changed. You don't go to El Nath anymore, and you can no longer buy the star and pentagon for 10,000,000. Also, you can't bring a party to help you. This is a solo quest. Manon & Griffey are in the same location as normal, but it's a special map that you, and only you, can get into when you have the quest. They will always be there, and their HP will reset every time you die and start over.

A level by level build is not realistic as there is no way to predict when you will find, or be able to buy, the required mastery books, but here are some tips to get you started. The Maple Warrior skill book will be given when you finish the job advancement. Post Ascension build, there are several 1 pointers you should get first such as Ifrit because it adds Elemental Resistance. Next max Buff Mastery for the added attack and longer buffs.

Regular Build

Level 120: +1 Paralyze (1), +1 Mist Eruption (1), +1 Arcane Aim (1)

Level 121: +1 Big Bang (1), +1 Meteor Shower (1), +1 Ifrit (1)

Level 122: +3 Buff Mastery (3)

Level 123: +3 Buff Mastery (6)

Level 124: +3 Buff Mastery (9)

Level 125: +1 Buff Mastery (10), +2 Paralyze (3)

Level 126: +3 Paralyze (6)

Level 127: +2 Paralyze (9)

End Result (This shows max all, but you could leave points off Ifrit or Big Bang)

"Instead of spending stat points in INT and LUK, wear a bathrobe, and put it all in HP. This way your heal will heal tons of HP since it is based on your HP. You will be extremely popular with parties, because of your high durability and high healing rate."

Max Heal recovers health equal to about 300% of the Cleric's maximum HP.

You may be thinking, Magicians have access to maces, so it should be a good idea to do a warrior-ish build, just adding enough INT to make the first advancement then doing a similar STR/DEX build to a warrior.

Unfortunately, there are a few problems wrong with this idea. First of all, a lack of mastery and weapon-based skills makes this build nearly as weak, if not weaker, than a permanent beginner. Even then, perma-beginners have access to the 200+ attack weapons (not in Maple Global). Second, the few Magician/Cleric skills available won't nearly be enough to compensate for its weaknesses. Why?

As stated, with so little INT, the damage done by Heal to undead monsters will be very weak

Skills that aren't based on INT (Magic Guard/Armour, Bless, Invincible) still work, but they would anyway in a normal build.

Attack skills (Magic Claw, Holy Arrow) also do little damage, if any.

Third, Magic Guard will likely be the only thing saving you from death at stronger monsters; At least Warriors have their massive HP, Bandits a good amount of HP and (eventually) Meso Guard, and perma-beginners have no EXP loss on death.

As such, Perma-beginners will likely be better than a STR Cleric in most areas except partying... And the lack of Heal really hurts a STR Cleric in that regard anyway.

In its own ways, though, the STR Cleric is still usable.

The STR Cleric uses MP moreover as an extension of HP, using MP to substitute for health. They rely on this much more than other mages.

STR Clerics also benefit from bless more than other mages since Bless affects accuracy and avoidability, not intelligence or magic.

Though heal cannot be used to combat undead or unholy enemies, it still maintains its healing properties.

STR Clerics can also more easily access other party members since they will be fighting monsters directly rather than standing at a distance and casting spells.

Party spells such as Door and Dispel can still be used, allowing STR Clerics to still maintain the role of a Cleric within a party

STR mages in general get the ability to tele-slash. It is the ability to physically attack, then teleport, similar to tele-casting. This allows STR mages to avoid injury more easily than other classes.

The STR Cleric, like the Perma-Beginner, has a slow growth rate, along with all of its disadvantages. They also require much more planning than other classes and are more limited in equip choices. Still, they have a unique gameplay style and are still an option to consider.

It would be exactly like the HP build, but instead of adding HP, you max out the MP improving thing and add MP after maxing it out. After the second job advancement, you make it a cleric, max out heal and MP eater, and "Voila!", you get the Pure MP build. You can heal people with ease, have no risk of dying if MP guard is activated, and you can take free pots using MP eater, since you don't need to hit for MP eater to be activated.

However, because of the new patch, throwing shells is not available, so you should also do something about your INT. You should put it around 43 or something (needs confirming), and then do the job advancement.